Apprenticeship at Bodhi

The next day, the monkeys gathered immortal peaches, picked rare fruits, and dug up mountain yams.

Neatly and properly, they laid out a feast to send him off.

Then they worked together to fell trees for a raft, cut bamboo for a pole, prepared some fruit, and set it on the raft.

The golden-furred monkey leapt onto the wooden raft, cupped his hands, and bade farewell to the troop.

He pushed with the bamboo pole, and the raft followed the current, slowly drifting toward the vast, boundless sea.

"Little ones, guard our home well. When I return after mastering my skills, I'll teach you how to live forever too!"

He looked back at Flower Fruit Mountain one last time, then turned away resolutely.

With one thrust of the bamboo pole, the raft sped up, heading toward the unknown, wave-tossed distance.

The sea stretched endlessly, its waves surging violently.

The wooden raft was simple after all. It had been fine while close to shore, but once it entered the deep sea, it became like a fallen leaf.

For the first few days, relying on his innate, hazy sense for wind, rain, and currents, he could just barely hold on.

But on this day, a violent wind suddenly rose over the sea, dark clouds blotted out the sun, and gigantic waves towered to the heavens!

A wave like a mountain crashed down, and the wooden raft instantly fell apart.

Though the golden-furred monkey was good in water, before such might of heaven and earth, that bit of instinct and his undeveloped strength were simply not enough to look at.

He only had time to cling to the largest plank before he was swept into a whirlpool.

Heaven and earth spun around him, and the golden-furred monkey soon lost consciousness.

Who knew how